First There Was Forever by Juliana Romano

I picked up First There Was Forever because it looked like a fun summer read. While there was a beachiness to it, it was so much angst and drama that it quickly wore on my nerves. There are going to be spoilers in this review so fair warning.

Lima and Hailey have been best friends since forever. Hailey has also been in love with Nate since forever. As they start their sophomore year, Hailey is determined to get Nate to notice her and Nate seems intent on noticing Lima.

Hailey describes Lima as the prettiest girl in school. In fact several other people say the same thing. But Lima thinks she looks like a little girl, that's she awkward. People thinks she's super cool but she just thinks she's super awkward. Lima is a good girl. She doesn't drink or do drugs. She's smart and like science. Hailey goes out a lot and parties. It was difficult for me to see why they were friends. Hailey gets some other friends, ones that like to party like she does. Lima is sad but meets these weird rich kids and hangs out with them. Then Nate comes back in the picture and him and Lima have this friendship that turns into more. Hailey and Lima are friends, then not, then friends again, then not. Pretty much the end.

I didn't like any of the characters in this book. Hailey was a brat who acted out all her issues. Lima was really dense. She never seemed to have a clue. And when she finally hooks up with Nate, she relies on him to make her feel good. I get it, young love, you're stupid, but she seem to reinforce some really bad stereotypes.  Lima definitely wasn't a strong female character. She lies to her best friend and her parents. She seems to go along with everyone else's plans. She had 2 independent thoughts and they were at the end of the book! And Lima's parents! You know how I feel about absent parents in teen books. Well, Lima's parents weren't absent but they were weird. On one hand very relaxed and laid back. They let Lima go out with Hailey all the time even though Hailey drank heavily and smoked weed. But Lima's mom had issues with the rich kids but because they smoked dope and drank. So contradictory! Then Lima's parents cracked down on her for riding in a stranger's car. She's sixteen and she knew the guy. They were very much all over the place so I found them difficult to like, Also Lima kept calling her mom 'Mommy'. So bizarre.

First There Was Forever just felt too drama filled for me. I didn't like the angst or the characters that much. There was very little characterization of Lima's love interest, Nate. He could have been any guy. Anyway, First There Was Forever didn't do it for me. Boo. Others who shared their thoughts on First There Was Forever: Rather Be Reading, YA Love, and Confessions of A Book Addict.